What Sharat is doing now… well, not this second but you know… "professionally" or whatever

INPUT

I’m still in Sydney, having a grand old time at INPUT 2012. I believe INPUT stands for INternational PUblic Television, and as such the conference invites Public TV producers from around the world. So I’ve been hanging out with some great people, been involved in really good conversations, and have seen some really incredible programs – amazing stuff that’s produced and showcased through public media.

There have been programs like Australia’s Go Back to Where You Came From – a high budget Survivor-style reality program that takes six white Aussies and follows them as they go on a reverse immigration/refugee path back through places like Malaysia, Kenya, Jordan, Iraq. And The Cardinal Files, which is a ’70’s period-piece Chilean show about the brutal Pinochet regime – but told like an action thriller. Also, Hitler’s Children which interviews the now grown-up children and grandchildren of high ranking Nazi officials and how they come to terms with the sins of their ancestors (and of Germany’s).

That’s just a few examples of the stuff I’ve seen. I’ve probably been watching about six or seven programs a day in the curated sessions.

Really amazing stuff that’s is sort of remarkably being produced by public TV elsewhere.

Unfortunately, Worker Drone was programmed at the end of a very long session, and after an 84-minute German film and by the time I screened, there were only about 20 people. So the conversation was a bit lacking.

Either way, it was great to see the film projected – looked great and the whole thing got me a very easy free trip to Australia. The final session is about to start and then it’s off to Melbourne for a week before getting back to working on The Worst of the Worst.